Catechism's Review Responses
Reviews for Catechism Sun Dec 13 23:30:37 2009 001 I have nothing but good things to say about Catechism. She is always ready to answers questions, I have never seen her patience fail, and her TP ideas are very creative and fun. She works with me even when I have dumb ideas or silly concerns. I think she is my favorite admin ^_^ Well done, Catechism. You're a joy. Aww, this is very sweet of you! There are no dumb ideas or silly concerns, however. 002 Cate, time to review you! You are doing a very impressive job keeping the MUSH active and stimulated with multiple plots on various fronts, no matter the faction or preference (combat vs non-combat). Some of your credit does indeed need spreading to all your little underlings that do such a good job of facilitating in any way they can, helping to flesh out the TPs with smaller scenes or just one-off plots that keep this place alive with activity. My staffers are great and lovely. Props to them. I'm guessing some people are going to complain about all these tiny one-off plots doing nothing for the MU's GRAND war and blahblahblah. Please Cate, don't listen to this drabble. We players sorely need the occasional silly or short scene to keep our interests up, otherwise it'd just be huge TP after huge TP. I consider it a lot like comics really. You can only do so many huge crossovers in a short amount of time before it becomes really annoying (ie Marvel's CivilWar heading straight into Dark Reign). I do have some little one-shots I'd like to run, so I will keep those in mind! You are hella active and are very good at getting other people to run away with their own ideas and plots, throwing in your two cents when needed as well. You're on top of your MU game and are very sensible and practical. I know I'm guilty of throwing one or two ideas at you just to see your reaction, but you haven't dissappointed so far. After I had heard Blueshift was stepping down and you were his replacement, I can't lie, I didn't think you were up to it. But time has shown that not only are you up to the task, but you've exceeded all expectations. I fear for the person who has to follow you Cate. Keep up the great work! Blueshift is a very tough act to follow. Thank you, however. That is very flattering. 003 You are doing a great job! Plots have been clipping along at a nice pace, and the new staff hires were great. I think sometimes you feel unsure of your position and this can affect your judgement. However, you have been much better at "seizing the moment" lately so keep it up! Also the effort being put into make all of the plots connected is reaelly great, and I hope people are noticing and appreciating it!! I am trying to do things in a more timely fashion. I have indeed been trying to get plots to connect into each other, so I am glad that you picked up on that! Thank you. 004 Catechism has been both helpful, creative, and flexible in her role as tpstaff. She helps the players to put their own things together and run them, and she makes her own characters available to establish plot points whenever needed. Best of all, she's around just about any time you need her. Thank you. 005 Catechism is friendly and humble. The one biggest thing I think she could improve on would be to commit more time with her characters since they're both rank 5 on Bot and Con side. That's a lot of responsbilities to fulfill and it's a bit lacking right now. Keep it up though Cate! You can do it! I am trying to be a bit better about putting up standing orders that people can use as RP hooks, if they so desire. I do have my characters lead missions, now and then, and I am trying to get better about logging and doing after battle reports. 006 Firstly I want to say you are doing a good job, things seem to be moving along albeit jumpily at times, but hopefully that can be smoothed out. I do have a few comments though: My main quibble really is that too much stuff is happening behind 'closed doors'. This was really highlighted by the appearance on +tpinfo of a plot which states that the Autobots have finally discovered where the Decepticons have been stealing planets and hiding them, which was met with confusion by the Decepticon players since they didn't realise they had been stealing planets. While I know it is fun for people to try to discover things, and there are some people who like to magically use OOC knowledge to guess, it is also important to make the people playing villains feel like they are the ones being villains. The Decepticon plots seem to be carried out by offscreen gumbies rather than players. If this isn't the case then I apologise, but from my pov that is what it seems like. Here is the thing. I scheduled building scenes about the planet plot. Windshear, for example, showed up, and he knew exactly what was going on, because he did show up. Then Galvatron stole Cambria, and we did put up posts about that, so that folks would at least have an idea that something was going on. Then there was another scene wherein the Autobots got to find out that Cambria had been moved, not destroyed, because Punch leaked a clue to them that they followed up on. So everything was done on-screen. But point taken. I could run 'duplicate' scenes with a twist to disseminate information a bit more effectively. I will also admit that I maybe do stuff a bit too much in the dark, so I will try to be a bit more transparent! There's also a lot of stuff that seems to come out of nowhere. This planet thing is one of them. Sure I guess it is possible, but for people to buy into that we need to see it every step of the way, rather than just a secret plan held by the high echelons. Also it would be nice to give the players something to do, often it seems like we can only react to what staff characters do (ie Onslaught steals the spaceship, Grimlock wins it back, Red Alert is the investigator for everything, etc etc). I don't think it is particularly a case of being only able to react to what staff characters do. I think it is more that staffers tend to be very active with their characters and tend to be comfortable with running splashy events. See. Onslaught stole a spaceship because Onslaught asked if he could. If, for example, Fusillade had some awesome plan to steal a spaceship that would generate fun R for people and ran it by staff, she could steal a spaceship, too! So Onslaught being staff didn't really have anything to do with whether or not he was able to steal a spaceship. Grimlock won it back because Grimlock happened to be awake when that scene went down. Red Alert tends to investigate 'everything' because he's often the only Intel guy logged in, aside from Nightbeat, and having Nightbeat discover something that I OOCly know is pretty boring, not only for me, but for everyone. Just recently, I was trying to help Boomslang wrap up his Spotlight, which was a fairly Intel-centric plot. I had quite a bit of difficulty getting enough people to show up, and I asked several times, on several days. So I would love for non-Red Alert people to investigate things! But they need to either show up when things are scheduled or answer when I ask on +o-a or @mail me to ask for more details and so on. TP timing is mostly better - I was enthused by the slightly earlier timing of TPs on Sundays, or at least the plan of that since it seems to have slipped. Not that bad, apart from today's, when it was the big kickoff tp which gets pushed back after people have made time to turn up (at least one player, Chromia, turned up then logged off upset) and tpinfo isn't updated to show this. There should be enough tp staff to be about to run something even if one can't make it. Consistancy is victory! A bit more notice for stuff would be good too. Earlier TPs on Sundays is mainly because that is when Galvatron likes to run things. I really can't help my time zone, I am afraid. Sometimes things do come up suddenly, and we don't always have each other's notes on how X is supposed to go. I do try to post outlines on our staff mailing list, especially if I am iffy if I can make a date or not, so that another staffer can look at my outline and know what needs to be done. These are just minor quibbles though, mostly it is all great, and activity seems to support that! Thank you for the constructive feedback! It is very useful. 007 Catechism is a very dedicated staffer who tends to do a lot more work than people realize, to the point of insanity. Seriously. Fantastic job on building the past pretty much all by herself. She tends to be a little rigid at times or frets a bit too easily worked up, but she does a pretty good job of keeping that under control. I will try to be more flexible and laid back (in situations where it is appropriate to be laid back). 008 I feel that Catechism has been doing a better job as TP wizard this most recent review cycle. I've seen her put forth an effort to get players involved in new character roles, which is a good thing. I think that the end of year Christmas plot may have been a huge misstep, though. Instead of a freeform, open setting where people got to run wild, I see a LOT of restrictions on who and what can even participate in the first place! We can't send any alt we want? We have to justify WHY we're allowed to participate? The point of these year-end events is to create interest in RP and maintain IC activity during a time period of traditionally low log-in numbers, not by raising barriers. There are entirely too many rigid criteria to make this acessible and enjoyable for a large percentage of the playerbase. Please return to the looser, more permissive style that previous years' alternate timelines/realities used. Point taken! Next year, we'll probably do something like, oh... let me use Hearts of Steel as an example. Some people really like steampunk. So maybe a mishap on the steampunk dinosaur planet (we have one) opens a gateway to a Civil War era steampunk alt-universe, so that steampunk folks and normal folks can wander through the doorway and sandbox on either side. So that wouldn't have all the restrictions the PAST plot did and would be much freer. So Shockwave could go be an ironclad if he wants or he could wander over as normal Shockwave or he could stay here and glare at the scientifically improbable steampunk visiting robots. (Note: I'm just using steampunk as an example. We haven't decided anything for next year.) Though I will note that last year, folks did have to sign up if they wanted to be normal people in mirror-land, and no one seemed to mind that. But yes. More freeform. Sandboxier. Sun Jul 26 23:30:38 2009 001 Cate you are lovely and awesome. Maybe a bit too much about pepsi at the moment, a little of that is nice, but too much is a bit blaaaargh. But you are amazing I am sorry about the Pepsi. But it is over now! 002 Catechism is one of the good ones. I can think of nothing bad to say about her lately. Maybe the best thing a TP wizard can do is encourage players to run things themselves and help to make sure they do so, and there have been a lot of plots lately, so good job. I guess the only advice I have is to be flexible with the world so that people can keep things changing and lively. The Mexico invasion and the space station takeover and related battles developing out of Solar Risk are good examples, let's keep letting people do things like that! I love to see player-run plots. If there is anything more I can do to encourage, enable, and assist them, please let me know. 003 Seems to be doing a pretty good job. The MUSH is still moving, there are TPs to be had and slapfights are at a minimum. That's good on Wizards and TP Staff alike. I like that there are a variety of current TPs with different foci and even different people running the show. That's more difficult to pull off and less personally tiring than running a bunch of stuff yourself. Plus, there's no danger of hurting yourself while patting yourself on the back. Good work, if for nothing else, then for maintaining an atmosphere where people feel free to run with their own stuff. One of the things that I always admired about Blueshift was how he was able to delegate and get different admin to each run different components of an overall plot and have it all fit together seamlessly. I don't think I'm as good at delegating as he was, but I'm trying to learn. I also like having variety, because that way, while not everyone will like everything, there'll at least be something for everyone sometime. 004 Catechism, the TPs and the general IC activity are still really hopping here. I think that shows you're doing a great job at running TP staff. I also happen to think you are extremely fair, helpful and approachable as an admin. About the only thing I can suggest as possible improvements comes from comparing you to the Blueshift. :) My suggestion is to be a more vocal and visible as TP wiz. Right now you seem visibly active in RP which is great, but I'd love to see more posts or announcements or FAQs from you, more responses to others' suggestions and TP ideas. Maybe some wrap-up type of posts after IC situations change in some way to help everyone get on the same page. It might be hard for you depending on your style or what you are comfortable with but give it some thought. The reason I think this will be good is that some of the big IC changes and details of the 'status quo' SEEM to be the result of people with a limited perspective who are not thinking about balance and keeping things fun for everyone. Or even worse, people with a grudge or an ultra-competetive nature wanting to generate a win and not caring about others' fun. :( I think if you were to sound off on some of the major IC ideas and plot elements, they'd be more acceptable because you have credibility and authority (as TP Wiz), plus a track record for being fair and collaborating with others. This is the kind of thing I saw Blueshift do often, and I really think it worked well. He didn't always come up with the ideas but he'd pubicly show his support and also answer concerns about them. Coming from him it really did make some things easier to swallow, and I think if you did this sort of thing it would have the same effect. You have some good advice for me. I will do my best to be more publically responsive, rather than mostly responding behind the scenes. 005 You've done well since your appointment to the wiz crew. I've enjoyed your RP in the latest TPs. Hope to see more of the same. Thank you! We have some fun things planned coming up, and I hope that you enjoy them. 006 Some of the TPs lately have been kind of detracting from the game quality. Like the Pepsi thing. Why have a TP like that with evil NPCs when there's an entire evil faction sitting on their thumbs throughout the whole thing? It could've all been an evil Decepticon plot that involved evil Decepticons, and given lots of people a chance to contribute. I think the whole Autobot/Decepticon thing has moved out of the spotlight in favor of weird one-shot stuff. What happened to the big picture stuff, and the space opera, and the whole planet of Cybertron, and all of the stuff associated with robots fighting robots? I for one would like to see us move away from just being weird and going nowhere, like with the Pepsi thing and the age TP, and move toward getting more involved in the meat and potatoes of the game, the Autobots and Decepticons at war. Maybe it's hard with most of charstaff seeming to fall on the Autobot-centric side of things, and with Galvatron being so uninvolved, but I think we need more plots with the Autobots and Decepticons in conflict, instead of ones dealing with outside threats so much. Things like evil Pepsi machines, magic alien artifacts, the Fallen, Unicron, Nemesis Enforcer, and that sort of thing, all need to be used cautiously and sparingly because they really dominate the scene when they show up. Sure they can make for a good scene, but when many TPs in a row end up using these kinds of elements, we keep moving further away from why most people came to play in the first place, Autobots fighting Decepticons. Catechism and her staff are obviously very creative people and good at running scenes, I'd just like to see the scenes have more to do with cool robot stuff and less to do with weird stuff I don't really get. Ack! I am terribly sorry. I have to admit, a lot of my style comes from the episodic style of the cartoon, wherein they'd throw a curveball like... giant aliens who see the Transformers as toy-sized, and then both sides would have to react to it. You have a good point that the Decepticons could drive a lot more of the various evil schemes here. I hope that the next TP lined up after the Olympics will be a bit more to your liking. 007 Catechism=I think Catechism is the best of the admin on 2k5. She's easy to talk to and loyal and keeps her head at least in public which some of the other staff members could work on. Moreover she doesn't suffer from the kind of elitism that seems to creep in to every staff list including this one. This means she doesn't think she's better than the players which some people are starting to show. Catechism is great Thank you! I am no better than anyone here and quite less than a great number of you. My duty is to be helpful and fair to the player base, and if I ever lose sight of that, I don't deserve my staff bit. 008 Cate is a pretty awesome Admin and I enjoy being on staff with her. She does a great job of dealing with her side of staff. I feel bad for how staff has a lot of issues and I know Cate has other full time things to devote herself to but I admire how she balances. Well, thank you. I think we'll work through these issues. 009 Blueshift is a tough act to follow and I do not envy you one bit in that. You've worked hard and in time, I think, your efforts will bear ripe fruit for you and the game. It is very clear you have a passion for Transformers and very clear you have some great ideas, all of which make the best ingredients for a great TPWiz. You've executed some of them really well and I am sure in enough time, you will be able to execute even better. Going forward I would hope you lean less on ideas that focus on external ideas (the Bird/aging or youth plot) and see if you can light the creative fire under players, especially those who play the movers-and-shakers of their respective factions, to help realize your TP ideas in a way that make it especially interesting to everyone who gets involved. Blueshift is amazing. I will definitely try to be more sparing with the outside forces and make thing a bit more integrated. If I was going to re-do the youth plot, for example, I probably would have made it a Decepticon-driven evil scheme (since Decepticons doing something weird to the Autobots and it backfiring is a pretty classic theme), and it would let the players get more involved. Sun Apr 12 23:30:38 2009 001 -Ain't got much to say so I'll have it done quick and easy. I don't get to play in too many of the TP scenes but I always see you up and around stirring up normal rp that ranges from the slobber-knocking fights to things that are less serious while being equaly as fun. I figure that's just as important as getting people all excited for the third return of Unicron, or the emergence of his wife. See what I did there? Unicron's wife, y'gotta another TP right there. That one's a freebie. Keep up the good work. Thank you! I think having a range of scenes is important. Too much of any one thing, and people tend to get sick of it. So offering variety helps keep scenes fresh. Also, for example, if Joebot really hates silly scenes, he won't have to wait long before a serious scene comes up, and vice versa. Also, it's nice to kick stuff off when there isn't anything planned. Unicron's wife, eh? I'll... think about that, but we do have a fair amount of things planned out for the next few months. Stay tuned! 002 When I heard you were joining TP staff, I could't think of anyone else better suited for it. Great job at planning and running TPs and also being a friendly, fair and knowledgable staffer in general. One small suggestion I have is for you to be more definitive when you answer questions about TPs and the IC world. You kind of say 'I think it's like this...' but we would prefer 'here's how it is' or at least 'consider it this way until told otherwise'. Staffers like Excise and Blueshift do the latter and it works fine for them. I don't think you risk hurting anything, because your thinking is sound. And it does really help having someone make the call, preferably a TP staffer. See, insofar as I'm the rookie of TPstaff, I tend to be a bit hesitant to make a definitive call, because I don't want to step on any toes or ruin anything that anyone is planning. (I guess that the new Rodimus Prime is the new rookie, but he was a TPstaffer a few years ago.) However, I suppose it's been since November 20th, 2009, so I am not really a rookie anymore. Also, I generally know what people are up to and try to stay on top of things, so I will try to be more definite in my answers in the future. Scratch that. I will be more definite. ;) Thank you. 003 Catechism does a lot of good things, interestingly too many to list thoroughly. One of the more 'public faces' on staff as well, I haven't seen Catechism loose her temper or anything yet. Probably one of the major rocks of the staff. Consider a brief review a compliment, because if I could think of HORRIBLE HORRIBLE things done . . I'd probably list them here. ;) I shall take that compliment and run, thank you! I try not to get too mad over anything. It's a game, after all. 004 catechism=Catechism is on top of things, so good for her! Maybe if Blueshift is cooling down she should be TP wizard? Also, I don't always agree with her but she always makes good arguments, her proposals are well considered and she is attentive to the issues in implementing them, she doesn't just blue-sky with good ideas that are hard or impossible to execute, like some folks might. I hope that Blueshift ends up feeling better, not because he is awesome to have around on TF2K5 (though he certainly is), but because he is a nice guy who deserves to feel better. It's very kind of you to suggest that I could fill in for him, though, which is more or less what I'm doing in April right now, on a temporary basis. If I don't have what I feel to be a solid rationale, I won't make a serious argument. Anything else is just wasting time. Straying outside of plausibility is also wasting time. Thank you! 005 Cate is amazing and the best. A real powerhouse and a huge inspiration, easily one of the best assets the mush has. Keep at it! Thank you very much. :) 006 The planets Catechism builds for her TPs don't have nearly enough rooms or interactive doohickeys in them. Just kidding. Catechism does an outstanding job, and she enjoys detail quite a bit, which is awesome. However, most comments I have for her I tend to make to her face; I'm really just doing this for the +nom. :( Someday, I will build a 60 room planet for a one day TP. Just you watch! (Okay, maybe not.) Though, I have to say that TACS does offer some interesting new options for making rooms and exits interactive, thanks to Hazard. Thank you, and enjoy your 1/3 of a skill. 007 Catechism, you have been a productive, positive contributer since your return to the game. When I saw the call for TPStaff applications, there was no doubt in my mind that you would be the natural choice. Your delivery after being made admin hasn't failed, either. You are knowledgable about Transformers mythos, and it shows in the well-constructed arcs that you both formulate and run. I like that you are present and available for consultation. Glad you are here! Thank you! I'm glad to be here, too, and help in whatever way I can. 008 Cate is amazing! TP staffer + Bug Fixer + Player Manager + (cut for anonymity) Insurance. I think Blueshift picked a winner! Keep up the great work. Next, we have Blueshift pick lottery numbers for us! Surely, the chances on those have to be better. ;) Thank you, too. Mon Jan 19 07:29:20 2009 001 Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the best builder of them all? You are! The Mirror TP was fun, and the areas built for it sufficed nicely. What is this? A very late review response! You see, sometimes weird positions that aren't real positions like... Mirror-BLDR come up for review. Usually, we catch it early, and we advance the Review Machine, so that people don't get confused. However, with Mirror-BLDR, it did get one review before the Review Machine was advanced. Mirror-BLDR was a combination of Hazard and myself. He did most of the hard parts, like making the +mirror command, and I built and @desced most of the mirror grid. Since it was just one review, I figured I'd wait until I got my first normal review cycle before I tossed it up. I'm efficient that way. Or lazy. Anyway, thank you for the kind words! Category:Reviews